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THE PORTRAIT. 



REV. K. S. ENOCHS, CX> 

♦ OF THE LOUISmNK CONFERENCES 



New Orli 

1'2 CAMr Street, 
1898. 



Il'l'l'l'- 'I' Ijlj ll'll' 




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( h(e Portrait. 




REV. K. S. ENOCHS, 
«£* «£* *£ Of the Louisiana Conference, «£* & <& 



New Orleans^ 
Chkiotiak Advocate Trim. 512 Camp Street. 



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^his ltftU W0I5 is rife "Mj s f a W let * 

xgi^ful of Jts irg^fecfi^s, Wf foels sure of 

fi,. frutf) of »*«y sfefen)«)i -gi flj* justice of 

*3«y cogclusiot), «)i, JeiWirjg b» *M* ** 

f rutt). gii?es it to f^ public. 

/luitjop. 



I JAR 16.1890. J 

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(The yox*U*iut- 

There are few of our homes where there fa 
urn the portrait of some dear friend, treasured 
an itli care, the work of the camera, finished by 
the deft hand of the workman, or it is wholly 
the work of a genius who combines in his 
personality the subject-grasp of the scientist 
and the skill of the artist, so thai the features 
of our friend are reproduced on the cardboard 
or canvas in such perfection thai we read in 
the blending lights and shadows the character 
of the friend we loved; and as we gaze mi 
the picture we exclaim, "Whal a noble brow !" 
or we murmur, in softer accents, "What ten- 
derness in those eyes and lips!" We may 
admire the embellishments of art thai have 
shaded the portrait with fleecy clouds or 
furnished a beautiful frame; bul what grasps 
and holds our attention are the features and 
character of the one portrayed, and the work 
of the artist serves to perpetuate these in 
memory. 

formative, creative ; art is imi- 
tative. The world at large, the every-day 

World, has its knowledge of the world of 



/science through tlie medium of art, that sees 
and reveals what is created. Object teaching 
has come in these days to be recognized as 
the most successful mode of increasing knowl- 
edge in the world. What, then, if Art, the 
revealer of Science, should be made to pay 
tribute to the uncreated by being made to 
reveal it also ! 

Writing for those who accept the stoiy of 
Creation as told in the Bible, and to those 
who for the sake of argument will admit it, 
I shall not enter upon proof of the record, 
but will simply state that in that account we 
recognize God as a creative genius, a scientist, 
the mysteries of whose wisdom the wise men 
of earth have been these thousands of years 
trying to fathom. Each work of the Creator, 
i'rom the making of a world, or a system of 
worlds, to the formation- of the modest violet, 
vras strictest science. He founded Geology 
in stratas of earth and rock, Astronomy in 
the distant blue, Biology in the myriad forms 
of life, and every other science in its appro- 
priate empire ; and when God seemed to have 
measured the heights and depths of scientific 
achievement, he stepped into a fresh field 
and found for scientific genius a new employ 
in imitative art. 

What are we to look for in the work of 



this Artist ? Let us remember that art in- 
cludes science, and (rod was a success in sci- 
ence; and this fact goes far to assure His 
Success in the new field of art. There must 
^mly he added to His perfect knowledge the 
power to reproduce by way of imitation. 

It is curious to notice that in entering upon 
this work there was council with God — not 
indeed are we to suppose as to the ability of 
the Workman, hut, rather, whether the work 
would he worthy of the Workman. Yet 
when we consider that this was God's own 
world that He had made, is it any wonder He 
should wisli to bestow upon it some memorial 
of Himself ! Hence not that he would make 
<\ man, hut that he might give to the world a 
likeness of Himself he said, -Let us make 
man in our own image." Ordinarily, we 
would not expect a God to imitate: that 
would he hut small employ for such a One — 
and so it would he if He imitated one less than 
Himself. ITc may not imitate even His own 
work, hut may well portray the uncreated, 
Cor this would serve to reveal that uncreated 
to the created. Now, this has been the con- 
stant effort of God, to reveal Himself to His 
iied beings, that iii knowing Him they 
might live; "for this is life eternal to know 
Thee, the true and living God," etc. 



It was no vain ambition to perpetuate His 
likeness. He might have found a more en- 
during way; but it was rather that He might 
thus bestow a lasting benefit. I believe men, 
as a rule, consider mankind a kind of God's 
ornament to a world already supremely beau- 
tiful^ Avhile God designed him to be His 
crowning blessing to every created intelli- 
gence, because by means of him God was 
making Himself known to them. 



The Psalmist said. " When I consider 
the lira veils, moon and stars which thou 
hast ordained, what is man that thou ait 
mindful of him P 

He evidently considered himself a curious 
piece of mechanism, though in the present 
instance, in comparison with the "moon 
and stars," he possibly would have been rather 
doubtful in the affirmation — "] am fearfully 
and wonderfully made." As a mere mech ^ 

anisin, man is insignificant in comparison 
with the smallest star in tin 1 smallest con- 
stellation, yet God has ever been mindful of 
man. and this fact alone is an all-sufficient 
proof of his inherent greatnesd — greatness 
incompatible with mere mechanism. 

Proofs of God's mindfulness of man are 
strewn all the way from the Eden-home, 
through wilderness, tire and Hood, by way of 
the Bethlehem manger and the cross, on 
adown the ages to the present time: yea, this 
hour we can know His blessings if we would 
bu1 recognize Mis hand. A "machine" will 
not explain it: a "living intelligence" will 



not. There is but one explanation possible.. 
"In the image of God" is the solution of the 
mystery. 

On a canvas of common clay God put 
a likeness of himself, and when God 
"breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, 
and he became a living creature," he was so 
much a success that God said of him, "Very 
good!" The workman was satisfied with His 
work — He had attained His object. 

The jjhilosopers of old time were more 
than half right when they taught the "sum 
of wisdom" to be self-knowledge. Our be- 
ginning, the object of our existence, the ful- 
fillment of the object of our being, may well 
claim our deepest, most earnest thought, and 
as to the first no other reasonable exx)lanation 
of our existence here has been offered except 
that of Eevelation — "In the image of God 
created He man." 

The "image of God" did not consist in 
form, but character, and St. Paul tells us in< 
Eph. iv, 24, and Col. iii, 10, that this image- 
of God consisted of three parts, to-wit.r 
knowledge, righteousness and true holi- 
ness. These were the features of divine charac- 
ter portrayed upon the canvas of clay. They 
made man like God. 

Do not think that man as he came from. 



the hand of God was an 
be was wise (only he knew not sin), else 
he would have been but a poor portrayal 
of God; furthermore, his "righteousness and 

true holiness" are strongest evidences of his 
wisdom; and is not this righteous, wise and 
holy character a thing of beauty 1 How the 
man so endowed must have commanded the 
admiration of the angels about the throne of 

God I JIow well fitted for sovereignty upon 
the earth ! Each of those characteristics was 

necessary, for the being was made a kin<> in 
God's beautiful world. Whatever the prim- 
itive life among the shaded walks of Eden 
was. it was marked by these characteristics, 
and, as a necessity, life was modeled after the 
life of God. And what a beautiful life it 
must have been, with such component parts 
blended into a perfect whole, the essence of 
which was love! 

The perfect life was perfect in spite of a 
lack of society. And the fact that man in 
the singular received the image of God, 
makes man to have a broader field than a 
one among many. He was placed in the 
world without a "social relation/' but had re- 
lation to God and the whole world — the 
World that includes the* beasts of the field, the 
fowls of the air and the fishes of the sea. 

9 



He was to be God-like to these; the social 
relation came after, when God gave him coin- 
panionship, and his God-likeness was carried 
forward into this new relation rather thai* 
having been formed for it. Society was 
formed for man — formed for him in his God- 
likeness. Society is not inherently evil, but 
was intended as the better condition of one 
formed in the image of God. What is to hin- 
der a godly man or woman from social enjoy- 
ment? To be sure, not their godliness. 
Still this is not to be left behind when we 
act in the social relations of life. Here is 
where it shines most, and Ave glorify God 
most. "A good man will be merciful to his 
beast," but it is when nun are found for- 
giving their brethren, loving their enemies, 
doing good to them that hate them, and pray- 
ing for them that despitefully use and perse- 
cute them, that their godliness is brought 
out and made to shine. 

There was righteousness in that primitive 
life. Great knowledge gave wise concep- 
tions of life, and right actions followed as a 
consequence. We nowhere have an intima- 
tion that God was displeased with the kingly 
ministrations of the man whom He had 
made and given rule over the earth, and to 
crown allitwasalifeof "true holiness," as far 

10 



from the shank holiness of fche present day as 
sunlighl is from Stygian darkness. Do not un- 
derstand mi 1 to say there is no true holiness in 
this day, for there are holy men a few, and 
women not a few, of whom the world is not 
worthy: hut the vaunting, self-asserting, 
self-seeking and self-satisfied "holiness" with 
which we conic into contact here and there is 
a miserable sham. There was no sham about 
the image of God; but it was a feature of 
divine character imprinted by the divine 
hand upon the life and character of the man, 
and when the portrait was complete God 
said. -It is very good." 



11 



"An enemy Lath clone this. ; '— Christ. (Mat. xiii, 28.) 

It would not be profitable to enquire lurvr 
long man remained in his first estate : we cart 
only conjecture as to that. It was a perfect 
life wliile it lasted ; but one beautiful even- 
ing, as the lingering rays of the setting sun 
were lovingly caressing the leaves and flow- 
ers and fruits of the Garden of Eden, God 
came walking in His garden and found the 
man, stripped of the image, a ruined canvas 
upon which once had been a beautiful por- 
trait — the man, hiding in the garden, trying 
to hide from God. You now may look iir 
vain for any mark of divinity, any likeness- 
of a God in the sneaking, hiding, cowering 
wretch. He has learned one thing, sin — a 
bitter lesson and dear the cost, but learning- 
it had "turned his head." Look how foolish, 
trying to hide from God, vainly trying to 
justify himself by charging another as the 
chief sinner. 

That was a pathetic picture in the beauti- 
ful Garden of Eden that evening. The sun 
shone as brightly as ever, the breezes wel- 

12 



coined (iod with a song of praise, nature was 
as glorious as ever; but yonder bird sings to 
liis mate in a minor key, something lie nevei 

did before; he has grown strangely fearful 
of the man who lived in the garden — ' wonder 
it* lie had not been throwing stones at the 
birds ! The beasts of the tields had run from 
him today. His true wisdom was gone, his 
righteousness was gone, and last, but not 
least, his true holiness was gone; impurity 
had taken the place of holiness. Satan had 
been there, and with one stroke of his hand 
the last vestige of the image of God was swept 
from the heart and life of man. See yonder, 
what was so late the breathing' image of (iod 
has become a mere soiled canvas, the beauti- 
ful markings all gone, and in their places the 
stains of the enemy who had wrought the 
ruin. The ruin is complete and the canvas 
only tit for the rubbish heap of the universe 
to be burned with the useless chaff and 
refuse of creation. 

What dire disaster has followed that first 
deed of sin! The enemy not only effaced 
the portrait of (iod, but we can imagine his 
hellish glee while he painted an exaggeration 
of his own diabolical features as though he 
would mock (iod when he came again. Many 
generations Of children were destined to be 

1:; 



born of the first sinning pair, and they, like 
their pleasures 3 were to bear Satan-features — - 
'•The trail of the serpent is over them all." 

There is much good in mankind, always 
has been ; few men are totally depraved, in 
spite of theology to the contrary 5 but the 
good and bad are strangely mixed, with the 
bad predominating, where Satan-features are 
ever showing themselves in the characters of 
men. 

St. Paul gives a list of satanic features in 
Gal. v, 19-21, under the name of " works of 
the flesh" : kk Adultery, fornication, unclean- 
ness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, 
strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, 
drunkenness, revelings.'- These are the feat- 
ures, outward expression of an inward char- 
acter; features Satan imp tinted by implant- 
ing the corresponding character in the heart 
of man. A whited sepulchre, entombing a 
slain character, took the place of a temple of 
God when man ceased to be the image of 
God to become the image of Satan, the 
former beauty of its dead but increases the 
xevoltingness of the tomb. The man designed 
in God-likeness is diverted from his destiny 
to become a portraiture of Satan, Methinks 
the angels wept when they saw the ruin, and 
beast and bird were frightened at the change 

14 



t hey saw in man. The ruin whs complete — 
as complete as hellish ingenuity could make it. 
We often hear u The Fall" spoken of as 
occasioning .meat loss on the part of man — 
< k a soul/* "an Eden-home;" but God's loss 
was greater — no other hypothesis can justify 
the awful price that was paid for man's re 
demption. The one thing in all the world 
God had made like Himself was lost to Him. 
ruined: worse than ruined, perverted and 
appropriated by his enemy, becoming a will- 
ing agent to further the schemes of the new 
master, and gave up his life to dishonoring 
God. The gates of Eden closed upon a lost 
being, lost to God, taken from Him by the 
enemy. To those who are used to measuring 
God's thoughts and ways by ours, to what 
lengths He might go to get back that which 
was lost ! 



15 



Reclamation^ 

"And Jesus called a little child, and set him in the midst of 
"them, and said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, 
and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the Kingdom 
■of Heaven." (Mat. xviii, 2, 3.) 

When we behold this ruin we are first im- 
pressed with its completeness. There was 
oiothing more that diabolical malice could 
suggest or hellish ingenuity perpetrate to 
dishonor God in the being God had created 
especially to His honor than Satan had done. 
But it is not long till that "hope," that 
"springs eternal in the human breast/' would 
rise up and cause us to ask: "Is there not 
some scientific or artistic skill that can re- 
move these stains and bring back the features 
of the divine portraiture ?" 

This is exactly what did occur. God had 
foreseen the ruin and provided against it, and 
every condition of our fall was met with an 
appropriate remedy in the work of the 
world's Eedeemer. A creature made in the 
image of God — God's crowning work — a cap- 
tive in the hands of His arch-enemy, spoiled 
of his beauty, debased into slavery, forced 
by his master to assume the role of an active 

16 



enemy to his God and king — every instinct 
and temper of his being perverted and each 

become an avenue of evil. Tims the Son of 
(iod found us, and, with more than mortal 
courage, dared to come to our rescue, and, 
taking a lowly form, became a servant to 
servants — yea, more than servant, lie became 
the champion of our cause, and, with love as 
His weapon, came forth to win man away 
from Satan back to God, from sin to righteous- 
ness. He found him a rebel and won his 
heart, and in so doing was wounded for our 
transgressions. He found man stained with 
sin. marked all over with the mocking feat- 
ures of Satan; then did He apply his blood, 
and with this new alchemy wash and make 
him clean; and when this was done the can- 
vas was ready for the artist to begin the 
work of restoration. 

The reader has probably seen where some 
stately building has been wrecked by storm 
of wind or flood or flame. The workmen are 
busy clearing away the ruins, and we under 
stand that this is to enable them to rebuild 
upon the same grounds. The wreckage must 
be cleared away before any rebuilding is at- 
tempted. So the blood of Christ, the "Lamb 
without spot or blemish," should cleanse 
away the last remains of sin that the Holy 

17 



Spirit may do His work of restoration, and* 
gain for man the approval of God ; and thus 
God, the Triune God, "worketh salvation in* 
the midst of the earth." And when the 
blood of Christ has cleansed from sin, "then 
we with open face beholding 1 as in a glass 
the glory of the Lord, are changed into the 
same image from glory to glory as of the 
Spirit of the Lord." (II. Cor. iii, 18.) 

All my life I have been familiar with the 
phrase, "come to Christ." This is all right, 
yet it is often overlooked that before this 
Christ cometh to us, and "He is the express 
image of His (God's) person." and to whom- 
soever He cometh the image of (rod returns, 
and Ave are restored to God by being "con- 
formed to the image of his Son." The new 
life in Christ, when we are thus formed anew 
in Him, is as truly -in the image of God" as 
was that first perfect life in Eden. The 
Holy Spirit works a perfect restoration in- 
changing us u from glory to glory," the way 
before prepared by the Son of God. Each' 
does His perfect work, leaving naught to be 
desired for completeness. 

There are several important points that 
will claim our attention; possibly the most 
important is that suggested above — the extent 
of the restoration, bearing, as it does, upon 

IS 



some subjects that are claiming a large place 
in the attention of the Christian world. The 
age is prolific of creedal changes. Men and 
communions are dissatisfied with their creeds 
or the interpretations that have been given 
them. They must have new interpretations 
or new creeds. There is much contradiction, 
and many men are at sea as to what they do 
believe or are expected to believe. Among 
the things we need to get straight upon 
is the extent of our restoration to tin 4 image 
of God, and His consequent favor, for it is 
evident we can only expect the favor of God 
in the same measure that we discharge our 
appointed destiny, as God's favor rests upon 
His approval. 

Now, the restoration must, at least, equal 
in extent the damage done, the ruin wrought, 
that has occasioned its need, else there might 
be a patching up that, however neatly done, 
would still be short of restoration: and for 
God to approve it, He must approve a fail- 
ure, and that on His own part: this is too 
absurd to justify a moment's discussion. It 
is generally admitted that as far as an indi- 
vidual is concerned, in his relation, at least, 
faie is better situated saved by grace through 
faith than if sin had never entered, and death 
by sin; not that sin is to his advantage, but 

11) 



even here the Lord makes " all things work 
together for good to them that love " Him. 
This is true, and it argues that, to say the 
least of it, the image of God is perfectly re- 
stored to the individual; but of that more 
hereafter. 

The Fall had a more than individual bear- 
ing; the whole race of mankind were made 
sinners thereby ; and if the restoration must 
equal the ruin, it follows that to every indi- 
vidual of the human race the "image of God" 
has returned. This was St. Paul's doctrine 
drawn from design. He tells us God predes- 
tined all He foreknew " to be conformed to 
the image of his Son." Now, St. Paul was 
not ignorant that we are all foreknown of 
God. He goes further than statement, and 
argues the case, and predicates his argument 
for the universal redemption of the race upon 
the extent of Adam's transgression : "As by 
the offense of one judgment came upon all 
men to condemnation: even so by the right- 
eousness of One the free gift came upon all 
men unto justification of life." (Eom. v, 18.) 
And in the fifteenth verse: u As the offence 
of one so also is the free gift: for if through 
the offence of one many be dead, much more 
the grace of God and the gift by grace which 
is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded 

20 



unto many/' And in the nineteenth verse : 
"By one man's disobedience many were made 
sinners, so by the obedience of One shall 
many be made righteous." Then in I. Cor. 
xv, 22: -As in Adam all men die, so in 
Christ all are made alive/ 7 In all of these 
passages we find Christ, the Second Adam, 
affecting* the whole race of mankind just as 
largely, to say the least of it, as did the first 
Adam. The effect was actual, not merely 
a making possible. If through the one came 
'^condemnation" upon "all men," through the 
other came "justification unto life" "upon 
all" men. 

The "free gift" of the Second is set over 
against the "offence- of the other. The 
**many" affected in the "free gift" are the 
same "many 77 who were affected in the "of- 
fence." The "obedience' 7 of the "Second 
Adam 77 is set against the "disobedience" of 
the first, and the "many made righteous" by 
the "Second Adam 77 are the same "many 
made sinners 77 by the first. The "alive in 
Christ 77 are the dead "in Adam/ 7 As -it is 
written, the first man Adam was made a liv- 
ing soul: the last Adam a quickening 
Spirit; 77 "and as we have borne the image of 
the earthly, we shall also bear the image of 
the heavenly. 77 Hence we conclude that Christ 

21 



affected oppositely, and to tlie same extent, 
every one affected in the fall of Adam ; and 
as they all die in Adam, all likewise live in 
Christ. This is not only the plain teaching 
of the Holy Scripture, but is also the logic 
of the federal headship of Christ ; this must 
be perfect, else a limited atonement must be 
admitted. 

But there is no necessity for either a lim- 
ited atonement or universalism, for this lat- 
ter looks to final rather than a present sal- 
vation, holding- that the one necessitates the 
other. The atonement for sin is universal, 
and every child born of sinning Adam's race 
receives immediate benefit of the "Lamb 
slain before the foundation of the world 7 ' — 
that "Lamb" whom the Baptist said "has 
taken away the sin of the world." Hence 
that "offering of Christ once made is that 
perfect redemption, propitiation and satis- 
faction for all the sins of the whole w r orld, 
both original and actual." Xow, if the "free 
gift" came upon all men unto "justification 
of life," and the offering once made is com- 
plete satisfaction for all sins, "both original 
and actual," it, therefore, follows there must 
be a time in the life of every man when he is 
saved by Christ, the Second Adam, and this 
time must be when there has as yet been no 

22 



actual sin in his life, or, in other words, when 
tie lias oone l>ut his original sin. This came 
to him without the concurrence of his will, 

by the act of the first Adam : his "justifica- 
tion unto life" likewise without faith or will 
on his part, but by Christ, the Second Adam, 
"who gave himself a ransom for all/' and in 
travail of soul wrought that redemption that 
"satisfied" the demands of justice, and took 
away "the sin of tin 4 whole world." 

Dr. T. (). Summers very aptly says: "Had 
not the intervention of the Second Adam 
been foreseen universally making and consti- 
tuting righteous all who were made and con- 
stituted sinners, Adam would never have 
been permitted to propagate liis species, and 
the race would have been cut off in its sin- 
ning head/' 

And because of this intervention Jesus 
could point to "a little child," and say, 
u Exeept ye be converted and become as little 
children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom 
of Heaven." 

One of the failings of theologians, and a 
prolific source of confusion, is the disposition 
to discuss " original sin," "birth sin," "de- 
pravity," etc. apart from Christ. We can 
take no account of these and leave out Christ, 
as we have already shown his influence is just 

23 



as positive and as extensive as was Adam's. 
God lias not "made some special provision 
for such infants as die in infancy," as some 
would have us believe ; but liis provision for 
tliem is the universal provision, and even as 
all are born into the world of the first Adam 
physical beings (Adam not being spiritual), 
not of their own will, so Christ, not as a re- 
ward of faith or works, but simply carrying 
out his own work as the Second Federal 
Head, bestows the "free gift unto justi- 
fication of life,' 7 patting them at once into the 
kingdom of Heaven. They are not only in 
the kingdom, but are there of right, be- 
cause of the heavenliness of their spirits 
Christ says, "Except ye become as little chil- 
dren/' Let us quit talking about the little 
ones being "fit for the kingdom." They are 
already in it, and Christ-appointed models 
for all who would enter there. They are in- 
deed "far gone from original righteousness," 
as that would imply independence of Christ; 
rather they hold their place in the kingdom 
because of Him, for as "by one man's disobe- 
dience they were made sinners," so "by the 
obedience of (another) One, they are made 
righteous." Hence, we hold they do not 
then, or ever after, "deserve God's wrath and 
punishment" for "original sin." It is to say r 

24 



the least of it. not to be sustained by any law 
of reason. A strange idea that would sus- 
pend for years "God'8 wrath and punish- 
ment" for this thing, they say. is in 
us. The only reasonable position is thai 
it does not deserve -wrath and punishment/' 
.because the "Lamb of God" takes away this 
••sin of the world/' without will or motion of 
our own, and in so doing forstalls at our birth 
the -Second Blessing/' so called, by there 
and then doing the work claimed for it. The 
work it seeks to do Christ has already done 
when we received "justification unto life." 
He thus gives to every man born into the 
world an equal chance of heaven and a glo- 
rified immortality by giving to each the priv- 
ilege of starting in the race of life with "eter- 
nal life abiding in him" as the -gift by 
grace." It is not "original," but the gift of 
God through Christ. It was here that Christ 
fixed the point of time when "justification 
unto life" "came upon all men," when "He 
called a little child and set him in the midst 
of them, and said, 'Except ye be converted 
and become as little children, ye can not 
enter into the kingdom/ 7 The child was 
the embodiment of heavenly virtue and char- 
acter. 
But we are met with the claim: "Infants 



do not possess the image of God, but rather 
many evil tempers that are themselves sin." 
I shall not deny that they have many unfor- 
tunate tempers, diseases of mind or body; 
but to say that these are sin is an unwarrant- 
ed assumption and a begging the question. 
They may the more easily be led into sin on 
account of these tempers, these may form so 
many avenues for sin to approach the soul ; 
but there is no scriptural authority for de- 
nominating them sin. "Sin is the transgres- 
sion of the law." This is a perfect definition, 
because a Bible definition (I. John iii, 4), and 
the Bible gives no other than this, and it 
clearly does not include either physical or 
mental infirmities. Hence, we conclude, 
Christ and the Holy Spirit restore the image 
of God to as many as lost it in Adam. It is 
true that a child, if let alone, would naturally 
incline to evil; but he is not let alone, but 
Christ the Lord places him in the kingdom of 
God so furnished that he may live in the 
world without sin — he not only may, but dfoes, 
until he disobeys the law of God. There is 
no necessity in the nature of things that we 
must for a while, at least, live in sin, an out- 
cast from the favor of God. 

I was present, a few years ago, at a camp 
meeting, when a minister, a leader in the 

20 



Conference of which he was a member, re- 
marked of his daughter, "She is a Christian, 
and has never known the day when she was 
not one," And it has been the testimony of 
many. U I do not remember the day when I 
did not love the Lord." There is nothing 
impossible, nothing inconsistent, in this. 
Saved by Christ in infancy, they are "brought 
n]) in the nurture and admonition of the 
Lord/' the preventing grace of God keeping 
them unto eternal life. We need to get away 
from theidea thatwe must sow some wild oats, 
for "Whatsoever a man sows that shall lie 
also reap." Eather a pure and blameless in- 
fancy is a starting-point for a pure and blame- 
less life. 

We need also to cease ascribing to "orig- 
inal sin/* or natural depravity, those common 
evils that are and have been in the world 
witnessing- the presence of Satan. A man 
does not lie, steal or murder because he is 
depraved, but because the Devil gets into 
him. If it is depravity that causes a man 
to do wrong, he can't avoid the wrong, and is, 
therefore, not responsible for it, and punish 
ment — all punishment, human and divine — 
becomes cruelty, and not justice. Satan en- 
tices, man yields, though God has commanded, 
"Thou shalt not ;" result— sin. The "deprav 



ity" that figures in the case is contracted or 
acquired ; it was not in the " little child " 
whom Christ set in the midst of His disciples, 
and said, "Become as he." Here He pointed 
to childhood for those who had departed- 
from their purity as the place to make a 
new beginning for a life of holiness in the 
kingdom of God. 

Most men who come to years of choice do 
go astray as sheep without a shepherd, yield- 
ing themselves servants of sin and unright- 
eousness. Satan gets control of them and 
implants his image where God's has been 
during their infant innocency, and for all of 
these Jesus points out a little child, and says 
in effect: "Come back to this point ;" "be a 
little child again ;" " receive the kingdom of 
Heaven as he ;" " be born again v — commence 
over at the beginning. 

Let us grasp the Master's teaching if we 
can. There had been a time in the life of 
His most ambitious follower when he had not 
sinned, and Christ had overcome the evil in 
his nature and made him acceptable with 
God, and now when he has gone astray, not 
because of natural fault, but of his own 
choice — when Satan had implanted in his 
heart an unholy ambition, and filled his head 
with selfish thoughts opposed to that charity 

28 



that seeketh not her own — he would know, 
"Who is to be the greatest in the kingdom!" 
The Master's reply answered, first, a question 
they bad not thought to ask — i. e., as to who 
should be in the kingdom, and then he 
assured His disciples that this was a 
kingdom in which all were equal. Be pointed 
to the little child, and said, "Except ye be 
converted, and become as little children, ye 
shall not enter into the kingdom " — points to 
a pure and holy infancy, and says. " Receive 
the kingdom of Heaven as" he. Receive it 
in the same degree — no more, no less. If less, 
lie overshot his mark; if more, In 1 failed to 
reach it. Receive it in the same way: by 
the washing of the blood that cleanses away 
the guilt of unholy ambition as well as all 
other unrighteousness. The way is pointed 
out, "Be converted and become as little chil- 
dren." This is more than a mere turning 
around and going the other way. It is to 
turn around and get back to tin 1 beginning, 
make a new start from infantile purity and 
beauty of baby character, and there begin in 
childhood to follow God as dear children. 

How history repeats itself! What was 
lost in Adam restored in Christ, now defiled 
by Satan brought under the dominion of sin. 
He has become an actual transgressor, a 

2j9 



real, not a theoretical sinner; the blood of 
Jesus Christ shed not for the "sin of the 
world' 7 alone, but for all the sins of the 
whole world, received by faith in the Son of 
God, is sufficient for his cleansing* from all 
the "sins that are past/' while the Holy- 
Spirit once again brings " justification unto 
life'' to every one that believeth, and he is 
"born again," "a new creature in Christ 
Jesus," a "babe in Christ." 

The question of extent can hardly arise 
here. He is not merely a changed man, but 
a new child, child of God, born into the 
kingdom of God. The blood of Christ failed 
not to remove all his transgressions. God 
not only forgave a part, but, for Christ's 
sake, "freely forgave him all." The Holy 
Spirit did not lack in His work, but con- 
formed him to "the image of the Son," per- 
fect in his endowments, perfectly a child of 
God, a babe, not man, in Christ. But his 
perfect endowment does not preclude a 
going on to perfection ; this is his work to 
strengthen and develop by growing in grace 
and in the knowledge of God. The endow- 
ment, the work of the Holy Spirit, is com- 
plete; the development, man's own work, is ~ 
just begun. 

It was of such a "little one" the Savior 

30 



spoke when he said, "Whosoever shall offend 
one of these little ones which believe in me;" 
such he called his disciples, even when he 
was sending them out to preach the gospel, 
to cast out devils and heal the sick. John 
recognized among his brethren some little 
children who had especial need of an "Advo- 
cate with the Father," while but even now "your 
sins are forgiven you for His name's sake:" 
and some young men who had been in battle 
and had ••overcome the wicked one.'* and now 
were strong; and some wise ones, fathers, 
who had ••known him that is from the begin- 
ning. 1 ' To -little children/' "young men" 
and fathers he exclaims, -Behold what man 
rier of love tin 1 Father hath bestowed upon 
ns. that we should be called the sons of God." 
All of these are still but the children of God, 
some young and tender and easily led astray: 
some of larger growth and greater strength. 
They are in the grace (favor) of God, because 
they are fulfilling the purpose of their being 
— wearing the image of God, and thereby 
glorifying him. 

The sum of the work of the world's 
Redeemer was to reveal the Father: and in 
redeeming man He made each one to be a revela- 
tion of the Father. What if to accomplish this 
we must become children! Is it not enough 

:;i 



if we are the children of God and are like 
our Father ? "For we shall see Him as He is 
and shall be like Him when He shall appear." 
This we are here and now, "for as we have 
worn the image of the earthly we shall also 
wear the image of the heavenly/' when we 
"receive the kingdom of Heaven as a little 
child/' with childlike faith that knows no 
doubt, child-like love — love unmixed with 
hate, and child-like hope that sees in pros- 
pect in "mansions in the sky" the full fru- 
ition of a Father's love. 




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